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Former Arizona Deans Allege Compensation Discrimination

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A second complainant joined a lawsuit alleging that the University of Arizona paid a female former dean significantly less than her male counterparts and then ended her deanship in retaliation for raising the issue, their attorneys announced Wednesday. In January, Patricia MacCorquodale, dean emerita of Arizona’s Honors College and a professor of gender and women’s studies, sued the university for gender discrimination, saying she was underpaid as compared to male deans.

Now Janice Cervelli, former dean of architecture at Arizona and current president of Saint Mary’s College in Indiana, alleges that the difference between her pay and the average male dean’s was $80,000 annually in her last two years at Arizona. The women’s collective action seeks to represent all female deans at Arizona and asserts that there is a broader pattern of underpaying these women in relation to male deans. MacCorquodale and Cervelli are seeking a jury trial and back pay for lost compensation, along with damages and relief. Arizona’s governing Board of Regents has previously said it does not comment on pending litigation.